
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Sunday that Ahmad Dawabshe, three of whose family members died in a fire at their home in the Arab village of Duma two years ago, is ineligible for compensation from the state.
Liberman made the announcement in response to a question on the matter posed by MK Yousef Jabareen of the Arab Joint List.
Following Liberman’s declaration, the Dawabshe family is weighing whether to employ legal measures to get the government to change its position.
According to Jabareen, Liberman’s position “creates discrimination from person to person,” since Jewish victims automatically are eligible for compensation.
Following the arson of the Dawabshe home in Duma, the Prime Minister had visited the injured family members in the hospital, and had told the Chairman of the PA that he would compensate the family.
Following the incident, an indictment was filed against Jewish youth Amiram Ben-Uliel for lighting the house on fire and murdering the family members.
However, the fact that the Dawabshe clan’s homes were regularly targeted by other Arabs both before and after the incident in question, coupled with eyewitness accounts wildly at odds with the indictment, gives serious reason to doubt the indictment’s validity.